almost ten years ago

ten and a half years ago

ten and a half years ago

over eleven years ago

Something I just don\\\'t \\\"get\\\", following your discussion about Burress, celebrity photos, and birthdays:

Why do people put decals on their cars that say, for example, \\\"In Memory of John Smith, 1992-2008\\\"? The people driving by on the interstate aren\\\'t going to pull up, roll down the window, and shout out \\\"hey, you! Who\\\'s John Smith? Why was he so awesome?\\\" No, most people just zip right on by.

It\\\'s the same principle behind ginormous headstones at cemeteries; what good is an eight-foot-tall, four-foot-wide stone angel? As a Jew, we don\\\'t do headstones like that; all of ours are flat on the ground, differing only in wording and font. I know where my grandparents are buried, and if I want to go say hello, I can go say hello. Who are the ginormous headstones for? Not for the dead, who don\\\'t care, that\\\'s for sure. I say they\\\'re for absent-minded relatives who can\\\'t find the gravesites. \\\"Okay, mom, just look for the huge marble crypt. Two plots to the left, and one back, that\\\'s where grandpa is.\\\"

*shrug*

That stuff just doesn\\\'t make sense to me.

Anyway, I\\\'m finally caught up on the show after being exhorted by Soccergirl and Steve Eley to listen to it. I enjoy it thoroughly and look forward to more.

Reggie

over eleven years ago

I can actually answer some of that.

I kinda make headstones for a living....and by kinda, I mean that\\\'s what I do.

In my experiences there are two major reasons for why people go all out with headstones.

One, which is a rather legitimate reason, is to use up much of the deceased person\\\'s money so that the surviving relatives can avoid the taxes on it. I understand that in some states death \\\"penalties\\\" can be rather harsh.

Another reason, quite simply, is ego. Often not on the part of the dead, but their children or other surviving relatives. We\\\'ve even made and replaced monuments on several occasions (for the same families over and over) due to families literally competing with each other to have the biggest, fanciest (often gaudiest) monument in the cemetery.

A third reason, which makes me extremely uncomfortable because I have to work with people that do this, is that sales people are sales people no matter what they\\\'re selling. And they\\\'re going to do everything they can to convince you that you need the biggest, fanciest and often gaudiest (and therefore most expensive and highest commissioned) stone in the cemetery.

Sometimes people design their own, and yeah, ego can come in there too, but those are often some of the cooler pieces that we work with.

I do find the stuff we do for Jewish cemeteries to be some of the more thoughtful and respectful work that we do, because they are simply what they are, and I like that. But there have been quite a few that are quite large and elaborate, but those are most often the centerpieces of family plots.

But that being said, there is a whole lot of stuff that just doesn\\\'t make any sense. Some of the quotations and emblems and pictures and little extras we have to add....some that\\\'s best to not even think about....

....seriously.

Anyway...sorry about that, just got home from work, lol.

Clair

over eleven years ago

Now, would you have rather had the opportunity to use the \"best\" bathroom in Scotland with your Lederhosen incident?

icepick

over eleven years ago

@Dan

According to Webster:

Agnostic could be either a noun or an adjective. Either one who believes that the ultimate knowledge (\\\"God\\\"?) is unknown and/or unknowable (Noun) or relating to that belief (Adj)

Whereas Atheist/Atheism is a clearer statement that one does not believe that God exist.

Gnosticism is an entirely different thing, it relates directly to some early Christian cults and beliefs. So, it would be really hard to be a gnostic atheist, since to be a gnostic you have to believe in certain Christian beliefs.

Disciple of Geo

over eleven years ago

George Hrab is on Digg! quick, Everyone! make an account and send him to the front page!
http://digg.com/comedy/geologic_podcast_no_it_s_not_about_rocks_usually

Reggie

over eleven years ago

I\\\'ve got a ridiculous social phenomenon that people do that drives me crazy and makes me really mad.

I just thought of it because I just saw it happen again.

Why do people go to sporting events and then spend the entire game talking on their cell phones and waving at the camera?

Whenever I watch Red Wings games there\\\'s always this one guy, pretty sure it\\\'s the same one each night \\\'cause he\\\'s in the exact same spot each time, who stands up and turns around and waves at the camera EVERY TIME the play goes over to that end of the ice and he is ALWAYS talking on his cell phone.

Every time I see it I wish that the puck would pop over the glass and hit him in the back of his stupid head.

And it\\\'s not like it\\\'s an isolated incident, either. There\\\'s just that one guy that stands up all the time so I always notice him, but whenever there\\\'s a fight or some kind of play that people know the camera is on, there they are doing something to let everyone know that they exist.

The ones that sit behind home plate at baseball games are the worse...because then you have to see them for pretty much the entire game.

uuugggghhh

Marvin

over eleven years ago

I have a peeve for you: \"The Meaning of Life.\"

Why do people *still* constantly frame arguments about philosophy and ethics in terms of trying to discover the meaning -- or The Meaning -- of life? The question itself carries the unstated assumption that life has an author, an intent. How much of philosophy and theology are ham-handed attempts to figure out the will of the celestial playwright who keeps fucking up people\'s lines?

For that matter, how much of the 20th century\'s academic obscurantism owes to a simple failure to let go of this framing device, the notion that meaning, language, and intent precede reality itself?

For me evolutionary theory is like Alexander\'s sword aimed at traditional philosophy\'s Gordian knots: we can now prove that matter and the laws of nature precede consciousness, intent, and language; and the latter things -- including \"the meaning of life\" -- must be understood as flowing from natural processes. The limitations of our understanding are not the product of a metaphysical bifurcation of reality; instead we just happen to have evolved as little bags of meat crawling around on a wet rock in space.

And this is good news, because it means the issues of happiness and suffering are no longer mysteries -- they\'re just problems. But they\'re problems that will never be solved if people continue to insist on looking for answers where none exist.

Chuck

over eleven years ago

Here\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s a point I perhaps did not make in my letter to George when I expressed disgust at Plaxico Burress\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s thanking of god after the superbowl. (I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m not capitalizing \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'god\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\', so I shit-sure am not going to capitalize the title of a football championship.) Maybe I should get my ranting done before 2AM.

Thanking god publically is not for the purpose of expressing gratitude, in my humble opinion. I see a public display of piety as designed to announce to all within earshot how pious the speaker is. Think of the one who bloviates about the Founding Fathers on Independence Day; what that person is genuinely interested in conveying to the listeners is not an education in American history, but rather how patriotic they are, and what a model citizen they are, and how the country would be so much better off if only the ignorant masses (and he\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s taking to you!) would rise to their level of zealous patriotism.

For any more on this, I prefer to let George do my talking for me and all subjects touching religion and zoology.

braveNewNerd

over eleven years ago

Excellent trainspotting impersonation! Just for the record, Northumberland is nowhere near Glasgow and not even in Scotland...oh and it\'s pronounced \"Nor Thumber land\".

A Pedantic Geordie :)

Soccergirl

over eleven years ago

over eleven years ago

I\\\'m with George regarding people praising God or Jesus. His reasoning is sound, but there\\\'s another reason. It always sounds like a slap in the face to those who prayed for whatever someone is thanking god for-- but didn\\\'t get it. When people thank god for winning something, do others who prayed to god for that same thing feel like god is playing favorites? When people thank god for sparing them from some tragedy, do the survivors of loved ones who weren\\\'t spared feel like god is punishing them. Why would god bless a football player while letting kids starve to death or die despite their parents urgent pleas? It makes no sense. It just seems so cruel.

Theists never seem to think how their gratuitous god praising might affect other believers--

I despise this stupefying thinking where god is praised for everything good and \\\"not enough faith\\\" is blamed for everything bad... and everything a an atheist says is examined for meaning and militancy and shrillness that is not there.

Geo speaks for me.

Chuck

over eleven years ago

So, how long until David Carusoe seethes and whispers his way into Dexter Morgan\\\'s crime lab?

Does CBS violate antitrust laws by holding a monopoly on forensic activity on television?

When CSI: Bethlehem premieres next Fall, will you try to get your picture taken next to the stars of the program, and in which bathroom will they be displayed?

Peter S

over eleven years ago

Well, I never thank god, I don\\\\\\\'t like to have my birthday announced, however I do have one, (only one), of there:
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd282/psosna/Randi.jpg

BTW, I was playing one of your old bits, the Blind Lemon Pledge interview, and I was wondering if that was inspired by Patrick Sky? He did a bit on Songs That Made America Famous that was very similar; Blind Funk Earwax singing The Child Molesting Blues.

She\\\\\\\'s my jellyroll mama
Lord she\\\\\\\'s white and twelve years old
She\\\\\\\'s my jellyroll mama
Lord she\\\\\\\'s white and twelve years old
I molest her in the basement
Woo hoo
It only cost me a tootsie roll...

Derek Smith

over eleven years ago

Great show.
Your rant about the football player? Spot on.
Dear god - go do something useful, like, I dunno, saving witches from beheading, instead of pretending you are built like a linebacker.
Speaking as an Englishman living in Germany...what the fucks a linebacker?

Ted H.

over eleven years ago

Whenever I hear an athlete thank god I think of Tommy Lasorda who said \\\"For all I know, God might not even like baseball. He might be a football fan.\\\"

At least the term linebacker makes sense. In rugby and soccer (football, whatever) the fullback is all the way back. Rugby has a half back that is halfway between the line and the fullback. So in American football, why is the fullback between the halfback and the quarterback?

Reggie

over eleven years ago

Trainspotting!?

Is that what that was from? It was driving me crazy that I couldn\\\'t place it.

George, your tastes in movies seriously rocks.

Like everything else...but still...hehe.

@Icepick

I totally know what you mean with the god bless you thing after someone sneezes. It seems like whenever I say it to be polite, and because it\\\'s just conditioned into me, someone gets offended.

Or when I don\\\'t say it...someone gets offended.

Seriously...the very openly Jewish atheist that I work with snaps at people when they don\\\'t say god bless you to her when she sneezes....what the hell is that!?!?

\\\"Sneezing is your soul trying to escape and saying god-bless-you crams it back in there\\\"

Eran Segev

over eleven years ago

Hi Geo,

This is my first post, but I\\\'ve been an avid listener since you were on Skepticality, which I believe is almost the beginning of the podcast.

My gripe about people thanking god is that the same people who thank god for doing them a favour NEVER EVER blame god when things don\\\'t turn out quite how they wanted them. I can assure you that if the Giants had lost, you wouldn\\\'t hear a squeak about god from this moron.

Regarding atheism, I think most atheists are really agnostics with an opinion. I call myself an atheist because it\\\'s a convenient label that says \\\"I don\\\'t think there\\\'s a god, becasue there is no evidence\\\". Am I sure? Of course not! Does that make me an agnostic? Not really. Not any more than I am an agnostic about the flying speghetti monster.

Thanks for the great podcast - keep it up.

Cheers,
Eran - Sydney, Australia

nolachief

over eleven years ago

THANK YOU!!!

The \"you\'re wasting your vote\" BS drives me up the wall. I got it from my family 4 years ago when our \"mainstream\" choices were a psychopath and a zombie. No thanks. I\'d rather \"waste\" my vote on someone who actually represents my views than vote for the tax and spend liberal or the tax cut and spend more conservative that are the sanctioned choices.

If more people \"wasted\" their vote, maybe we\\\'d get something accomplished around here.

Sorry for the rant. Great show! Guess I need to see Trainspotting...

Todd

over eleven years ago

Great show - The Geologic Podcast is taffy for the brain - sweet and sticky.

My peeve? Maybe it\\\'s the Epicurian in me but I really dislike going away \\\"luncheons\\\" wherein you get told everything you\\\'ve done the past 4, 8, 16 or 20 years. I know what I did, I was there, so why are you telling me? Nobody else really cares what you did or wants to sit through a long lunch to hear about it; they\\\'re just there because going away luncheons usually last way longer than the normal lunch hour so they get to stay away from work longer. Why do people think it\\\'s vitally important the \\\"administrative assistant\\\" who never liked you because you never turn in your TPS reports on time wants or needs to see you get a plaque that\\\'s going straight under the bed to collect dust? If you want a going away lunch grab the handful of friends who really are your friends and treat them to lunch to show how much you appreciate them and save the hubris for your resume.

JasonP

over eleven years ago

Great episode as usual, but I did have one issue. While the little rant during the RMOTW, I actually wanted to hear the Tampa story. That\\\'s my hometown, and have been trying to fight the amount of religion in our government.

George Hrab

over eleven years ago

Jason-

Here\\\'s a link to the WHOLE thing, with appologies to Derek for needing a story over which I could do a bit. Still a great batch o\\\' morons found by the inimitable Derek C.

over eleven years ago

Oh! your poor head, George. Sometimes it just doesn\'t pay to read the news, you know?

I think that when god says he\'s into football, he really just means he likes to kick people in the nuts. That seems to me to be the most historically consistent explanation.

In other news -- plans have changed, and I get to go to TAM6! Woooo! Apparently the restraining order says that the closest I can get to George is the massage parlor at the Bellagio, however. :-/

Nandes

over eleven years ago

I just shat myself laughing at that trainspotting spoof.

good form.

nulloperations

over eleven years ago

Myminicity is a pretty interesting site. A friend has been having me help develop his city for awhile.

Basically, when your city starts out, whenever a person comes the city the city games a population point. Every day, every person and come to the city and add a new point of population. Around 50 (and every fifty thereafter) the city to starts to develop needs, jobs, transportation, crime fighting, etc. On the city\\\'s page, they provide those links, but you need to save them to load them up specifically (because you can only do one thing per day per person, so if you add a street, you can\\\'t add a population that day).

Looks like I have a new city to help assist in developing.

Icepick

over eleven years ago

Thank God You\\\'re Here For Us!

Actually, if people had checked out the guys\\\' full interview. No one would have had a problem with your rant. He actually said that god told him they would win. Yes, god spoke to him. He said he was never worried, because god had told him so.

So, god is a big football fan? This stuff is just stupid.

There are some obvious things people do that are annoying, because they don\\\'t even know why they do it.

Saying, \\\"God Bless You\\\", when you sneeze. Does anyone REALLY think their heart stops when they sneeze? Does anyone REALLY think they are expelling demons? We just say, \\\"Don\\\'t spit on the food.\\\" It\\\'s much more practical.

How many people worry about Friday the 13th know that it is bad luck because Philip the Fair (Fair?) arrested hundreds of Knights Templar in France and subsequently tortured them into confessing Heresy. Oh, BTW, Philip owed the Knights Templar Money.

Ms. Information

over eleven years ago

1-
Maybe when god implied he\'s a big football fan, he meant soccer.

2-
I can\'t wait until there\'s a larger population at Geologica. I want to build a ranch there and I say thixen should manage it for me.

-Ms. Info

George Hrab

over eleven years ago

No \\\"problem.\\\"

Hee!

G

Kevin Stephenson

over eleven years ago

Awesome ! You mentioned Geologica

It actually doesn\\\'t do a damn thing lol , when people visit the site , the population grows that\\\'s all :p you can aslo leave comments on the board for other people.

great show as usual and Mr Hrab..
Do you like chocolate ?

Kevin Stephenson

Tricia, Michael, and Chris

over eleven years ago

Hey Geo loved Tricia was really happy she got to be famous and got the staple from her foot the same day. Thanks a bunch and see ya at Dragon Con probley not TAM. I\\\'m just a poor single dad bus driver. The bagpipes never got me into a big band.

KJG

over eleven years ago

That song at the end of the podcast was great! Will it be on the next album?

About the Podcast

The Geologic Podcast is a weekly podcast consisting of personal stories, comedy sketches, news commentary, music and movie reviews, science advocacy, original songs, and interviews. Its host and producer is musician, composer, drummer, comedian, storyteller, TEDx speaker, event emcee, and vigilant defender of the Theory of Gravity— George Hrab. The content often draws from Geo’s musical career; the music industry in general; his adventures as a semi-almost-famous critical thinker; his fascination with language, culture, and science; and ranges in tone from incredibly serious to unbearably silly.
The show’s name is a portmanteau of “George” and “Logic,” and—quite confusingly—the show contains no geology content whatsoever. Recurring characters on the show (all portrayed by Hrab) include Dr. Damian Handzy, Mortimer, Minoishe Interroberg, Rupert McClanahan and many others. The podcast content varies from week to week, but often features several of a number of recurring segments including Interesting Fauna, Ask George, Geo’s Mom Reads Jay-Z Lyrics, The History Chunk, Horror-Scopes, and The Weekly Standard. George looks at his show as a type of “brain sorbet” for those who may need the occasional respite from the “coarses” of life.
The podcast started in February 2007, and George has rarely missed posting one episode per week ever since. Just ask his therapist.